Chapter 37

Who Needs Enemies

Kelsey

Alice is going seriously overboard with Bella's wedding plans. She's trying to convince Bella to go with an elaborate, millionaire style wedding. Maybe I've never cared about such things, but I've always wanted a simple wedding with someone I actually love. I mean, Edward clearly doesn't really love Bella. Infatuation and love are two very different things.

Infatuation is instant. Love takes time, care, and hard work to build. Love makes you a better person. It pushes you to be the best version of yourself. Love allows you to grow, and fall, in equal measure. Love is there at the highest high and the lowest low.

What Edward and Bella have is not love. If anything, it's an addiction. And there's no way they'll stay loyal to each other forever or some bullshit like that.

Nevertheless, I grin and bear it when Alice is taking over our house with wedding stuff. But that's probably because I'm busy planning another wedding. Emily's. And the difference between the two cannot be more overstated.

Sam and Emily decided to go with a small wedding on the beach, just friends and family. Kim and I are her bridesmaids, and Jared and Paul are his groomsmen. Emily tried to get Leah to be a bridesmaid, as their relationship has improved lately, but Leah said she wouldn't feel very comfortable with that right now and Emily respects her wishes. Billy Black is officiating, and they picked the song "Can't Help Falling in Love" as their first dance. Claire, Emily's little niece, is the flower girl, and Sam's nephew Michael is the ring bearer.

I'm in charge of making the wedding cake: a simple two-tier chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream roses and isomalt wedding bells. Isomalt is a sugar alcohol that ends up looking really cool when you're decorating it. You melt it, getting it up to about 335 degrees F, then mix in any food coloring you want to use and pipe it out onto the cake.

Emily approaches me as I'm cleaning up after practicing my piping work. She's holding her tablet in one hand, and looks a little nervous.

"What's up, Em? You okay?" I drop the measuring cup I'd used to melt the isomalt into a bowl of ice water and begin to scrub at it.

"Yeah. I was just talking with Kim about the bridesmaid dresses. We were thinking navy blue?"

"Sounds good." I turn and take the tablet from her outstretched hand, glancing down at the dress on the screen. It's a long, strapless, navy blue dress with a cutout in the back and a sweetheart neckline. It's really pretty.

"I love it, Em!"

"I was just wondering..." Emily shifts her weight from one foot to the other nervously. "About your diabetes. Are you going to wear your pump? And If so, how can we fit it into the dress?"

"Yeah, I was planning on it. It just works better for me than shots. I can maybe get a pocket sewn in for it or just clip it to the back of the dress. What do you think?"

"I was hoping you'd wear it out. It's a part of you, Kelsey, and I want the whole Kelsey at my wedding. If you aren't comfortable with that, though, that's okay."

I can't help but blink back tears. My diabetes is just a part of me, just the same as my eye color or hair. The fact that Emily understands that diabetes is as much a part of me as my snark and attitude means a lot. A lot of times, people will try to separate me from my disease. But that just doesn't work because diabetes is so entangled with who I am as a person.

I pull Emily into a tight hug. "Thank you, Em."

"For what?"

"For seeing me as I am. For not trying to separate me from my diabetes. For not asking me to hide a part of my identity."

"Of course, Kelsey. I'm not hiding my scars, either. We all have our differences. You can just see ours."

Bella doesn't feel the same way, of course. I'd found a cute dress to wear to Bella's wedding, as I wasn't even considered for a bridesmaid. As soon as I show it to Bella, her face twists up with disgust.

"What are you gonna do with that?" She points to the insulin pump at my waist. "Or that?" pointing the Dexcom on my arm. "You can't just show that at my wedding!"

"I figured I'd get one of those holsters to hold the pump to my thigh. And I can put my Dexcom on my leg. You won't even see it."

"Not good enough." Bella glares at me. "I want it to be perfect and your medical stuff will ruin the photos. Just take them off for the day."

"Um, Bella, that's not how that works. Like, at all. I can take the pump off, but I'd have to take shots, so I'd have to carry around my insulin pen and needles with me everywhere. And I can take the Dexcom off, but that'd mean I'd have to prick my finger to check my sugars, so that's a glucose meter, strips, pricker and lancets I'd have to carry around, too. Which will ruin the photos more? My pump and Dexcom hidden away discretely or my big diabetes kit?"

"Why do you have to bring your kit? Just don't eat anything?" Bella looks at me like I'm stupid for not thinking of that.

"I am not going to potentially put my health at risk because you want perfect photos!"

"You can do it my way, or you can not come. Your choice."

"Seriously? How old are you? Fine. You've never acted like a sister to me anyways. Why start now?" I turn and leave the kitchen before I end up punching my selfish, idiotic, entitled sister right in her face.

To be fair, Dad does try to mediate. Bella, however, sticks to her guns. I guess she chose this as her hill to die on.

"Charlie, her disease will just get in the way."

"I thought I raised you better than this, Isabella," Dad finally snaps. "If you won't invite Kelsey just because of her diabetes, I won't come, either. I'm really disappointed in you."

Cue Bella storming off in a temper tantrum and screaming that it's all my fault. Whatever. Who needs her anyways?

While we may not have gotten along before, I would have hoped she would at least let me be a part of her wedding. I am her only sister. But if she wants to be this petty, then I have every right to end my relationship with her. I don't have time for such ableist bullshit. I'll be too busy blinging out my pump for Emily's wedding. With sisters like Bella, who needs enemies?

A/N: I'm not dead. The usual excuses apply: college, another death in the family, extracurriculars, writer's block, and my own health struggles. In September, I was diagnosed with a chronic illness, although we don't know exactly what causes it. Some days, I feel really awful: weak, shaky, emotional, headaches, feeling faint, etc. There is no cure, at least, not one that my doctors have been able to isolate. A lot of my time lately has been dedicated to alleviating the symptoms of my illness and wondering when the next episode will strike. I now have much more of an understanding of the emotional toll that my characters go through because of their chronic illness, and have redoubled my efforts to portray chronic illness accurately, and to raise awareness of various invisible illnesses.

I other good news, I have the next chapter prewritten, and after that, it's Emily's wedding.

Okay, so here's my plan. I have three stories I'm gonna post, "Written in the Stars", "Stronger together", and "From the Heart." I've posted the first chapters, and the one that gets the most reviews by April 1 will be the story will update every Monday. The one that gets the second number of reviews will be every other Wednesday. The one that gets the least will be monthly. Chronic Love will be every other Sunday. Later!

Lauren.

Responses to Reviews:

Micky-Moo: I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter. I hope you enjoyed this one, too. Please review and let me know.

FlowerChild23: I'm glad you liked the last chapter. I hope you enjoy this one, too. Please review and let me know.

Ellie: I never really thought of Emily as being the bad guy in this situation. You're right, though. Hypocritical much? She should have realized that being in a relationship with Sam would damage her relationship with Leah. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review and let me know.